Page 15 of Dumbstruck
I was a mess, but June still didn’t say no.
Groaning, I drop my head onto the table and do my best not to relive every interaction I’ve had with June. Honestly, it’s been impossible to do my job the last few days because I keep thinking about her. That, and things are still going wrong on set. With all the disasters threatening the stability of my career, I hoped I could at least count on June. “I think I messed this up, Rich.”
“Already?” a female voice says. “I just got here.”
My head snaps up, adrenaline surging through me at the sight of June in a sweater and jeans standing next to the booth I picked. She’sbeautiful. As always. That’s not going to help the sweating situation. “You came,” I practically whisper. Talk about pathetic, but I am both relieved and terrified, which is a lethal combination.
June’s lips twitch as her eyes shift to the bouquet of red roses sitting on the table. “I seem to recall you promising a charming smile to go with those.”
My grin is fully natural as I stand and present the flowers to her. “You’re going to have to decide if I live up to the charming part, but these are for you.”
Someone loudly clears their throat in the next booth over, which a moment ago had been empty but now is occupied by three middle-aged women who are all giving me judgy stares, as if flirting with the resident hardware expert is an egregious error on my part.
I clench my jaw and try to keep smiling as June accepts the flowers. If I’m lucky, she’s not set on this ice cream thing. “Maybe,” I say, keeping my voice low, “we could go on a walk instead?” I subtly nod toward our irritated audience.
Richie clears his throat. After the trailer-trapping on top of everything else happening on set, he has been convinced someone is out to get me, and he’s not thrilled about the idea of me wandering around town.
I ignore him and offer my hand to June. “What do you say?”
She looks at the women behind me, then nods and reaches for my hand. “Sounds great. I’m not big on ice cream anyway.”
I hiss dramatically and pull my hand back. “That might be a deal breaker, Harper. Where am I supposed to take you out next time if you don’t like ice cream?”
Rolling her eyes, she grabs my hand and pulls me out the door. “You are ridiculous, Jonah James.”
I wait until we’ve walked most of the block and turn onto a quiet side street before I shift our hands, lacing our fingers together. “I hope I’m not too ridiculous for you, Harper. I’m determined to learn everything there is to know about you, so I can’t go scaring you off before I’ve done that.”
She scoffs. “Why would you want to know anything about me? I’m just a small-town—”
“There is nothing ‘just’ about you, June. Trust me.”
She studies me for a long time after that, like she’s trying to dig beneath the surface and get to the good stuff. I know the feeling; it’s the same way I’m looking at her. “What do you want to know?” she finally asks. “Your assistant already got all the details.”
“Dex got town gossip. I want to know the real June.”
Color brightens her cheeks, and I praise the fact that it’s not freezing outside because it means I can try to extend this walk as long as possible. I meant what I said, and I want to know as much as I can about this woman while I’m still in town.
“Tell me about where you grew up,” I say.
Giving me a sidelong glance, June fights her smile but gives in when she sees mine. “I had a pretty normal childhood, though maybe a farm boy like you doesn’t know what that would be like.”
“You’re right. I spent my childhood milking cows and collecting eggs at the crack of dawn. Did you grow up in Denver?”
We walk and talk for over an hour, comparing city life to farm life. June tells me about how she was an only child, which is so different from my family of five kids, of which I am the youngest. She talks about being a high achiever and going to law school because her parents wanted a good life for her, but now they have started bemoaning the fact that they raised a career-oriented woman and haven’t gotten any grandkids yet. June gets quieter when she mentions that part, and I honestly can’t tell if she wants a family or if she’s happy running her store in this small town.
To take the attention off of her, I tell her about how my siblings are all married and settled, living respectably quiet lives within forty miles of where we grew up in Idaho, so my parents are happy with their horde of grandkids. Although, it doesn’t stop my mom from wondering when I’ll move back home and add to the chaos despite being at the height of my career right now.
“How did you end up in Hollywood?” June asks.
I make eye contact with an older couple sitting on their porch even though there’s not much to see this late at night and it’s on the chilly side for porch sitting. We’ve passed them twice already, and I’m pretty sure their glares get stronger every time. I don’t answer June’s question until we’re out of earshot, though I don’t have any good reasons to be suspicious. Sure, they kept their eyes on us the whole time we walked past, but they’re probably just nosy neighbors.
I glance back at Richie to see if he’s noticed them too, and his scowl is pretty telling. At least it’s not just me being paranoid, though I can’t decide if that’s a good thing. What is up with this town?
I clear my throat and force myself to pay attention to my beautiful date. I can’t remember the last time I met someone this easy to talk to, which is saying a lot because I’ve never struggled for conversation. I hope it’s not only me who feels a connection here. “It may come as a shock to you, June, but I have a flair for the dramatic.”
June snorts out a laugh and leans into me. “What? You? I never would have guessed!”
Yes, give me all the sarcasm. Her willingness to joke around with me means she’s warming up to me, and nothing could make me happier. “It’s crazy, I know. My parents thought it was a good idea to throw me into every community production they could because they didn’t know what to do with me otherwise. An agent came across a video of me someone posted online when I was seventeen. She got me my first gig in LA, and the rest is history.” I chuckle. “Pretty much everything about my life after that is online, so I might as well stop talking now.”
